Soccer: Inter land Vidic

Serb set to leave Manchester United after eight years

(By Paul Virgo)
(ANSA) - Rome, March 5 - Inter Milan said Wednesday that
they have reached a deal with Nemanja Vidic for the Manchester
United captain to join them from next season.

The former Serbia centre back, 32, last month announced he
would leave United at the end of the current campaign.
He joined the English team in 2006, helping them win five
Premier League titles in addition to the 2008 Champions League
and Club World Cup, and has been their captain since 2010.
"Vidic is a world-class player," Inter Chairman Erick
Thohir said in a statement on the club website.

"I'm extremely happy to have completed this deal to bring
Nemanja to Milan.
"He's one of the world's best defenders and his
qualities, international pedigree and charisma will be an asset
to the team and help bring through our younger players.
"He will bring added value to the club and is another
piece of the great Inter side we are building".

Thohir, who took over the club last year, is seeking to
get Inter back to the top of the game, after they experienced
some disappointing seasons since winning an unprecedented
Champions League-Serie A-Italian Cup treble in 2010.

They are currently fifth in Serie A, 28 points behind
leaders Juventus and outside the qualification zone for next
season's Champions League.
Thohir, the head of the Indonesian consortium that in
November made Inter Serie A's second foreign-controlled club
after Americans moved in at AS Roma in 2011, will be hoping the
signing of a big name like Vidic will help improve relations
with fans.

Inter supporters have accused Thohir of being an absentee
landlord for spending long periods outside Italy as the team's
form deteriorated after the takeover.

Major protests by fans in January caused him to drop
negotiations with Juventus to swap Colombian midfielder
Fredy Guarin for Montenegro forward Mirko Vucinic when the deal
looked on the verge of being closed.

Vidic, a product of Red Star Belgrade's youth system,
joined United from Spartak Moscow.

He made 56 appearances and scored two goals for Serbia
before retiring from international football in 2011.
Thohir is expected to have a clear-out in the closed
season and offload veterans such as striker Diego Milito,
midfielder Esteban Cambiasso and Walter Samuel.

Coach Walter Mazzarri, who only took over this season, is
not certain to stay on after this season's disappointing
campaign.

Captain Javier Zanetti, who has been with the club for 19
years, may stay on even though there is a chance that this will
be the 40-year-old's last season as a player.

The Argentine said Tuesday that he hoped to keep working
for Inter in some capacity, possibly as a director, having
dismissed speculation he was set to join former Inter boss Josè
Mourinho at Chelsea.
"My bond with this club will never end," Zanetti said. "It
does not depend on my contract".